Eat Simply, Eat Well

Healthy recipes & tips to help you live the good life. by Ann Plough

Chipotle Black Bean Soup

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chipotle-blackbean-soup

Happy Friday! It’s been a long, busy, fun-filled week – it’s time for a quick, easy and satisfying meal.

This soup is one of the reasons I like to keep black beans around the house – they are easy to turn into something delicious.

Last Saturday, amidst various projects, enjoying time with guests and preparing for Easter lunch, there was all of sudden nearly no time left for dinner before we had to head out the door again.  I’m sure you’ve been there: your stomach begins to growl…maybe you begin to growl a little yourself…and you start to wonder if whatever it is you’ve got packed into the fridge from grocery shopping a few days ago could possible be turned into anything you’d like to eat – but quickly.

Get out one pot.  Grab your cutting board, a knife, and those black beans that have been waiting for this day.  Pop some nice bread in the toaster ready to toast, and in 15 minutes, you’ll be sitting yourself down for a nice bowl of soup.

Seriously. This is easy. In fact, it’d work great on a Friday night (today, maybe?) when you are exhausted after a long week and really just want to kick back with your feet up. This will have you raring to go in no time. Or at least save you from ordering in pizza – this is definitely faster and way better for you. Enjoy!

Chipotle Black Bean Soup

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 yellow onion, diced

1 carrot, peeled & diced

1 celery stalk, diced

1 roasted red pepper, cut into chunks (I buy them in a big jar – you can use a fresh one too)

2 cups cooked black beans

4 cups / 1 liter vegetable or chicken broth

1/4 cup chopped, fresh cilantro (or 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander)

1 dried chipotle pepper or 1/2 – 3/4 teaspoon ground chipotle

optional: if you like it spicy, add 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt + more to taste (this depends on how salty your broth and beans are to begin with)

pepper to taste

1 avocado, diced

In a medium-sized pot over medium heat, heat the oil.  Add the onion, carrot and celery stalk and cook until the onion is soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the red pepper, beans, chicken broth, cilantro and chipotle.  Bring the mixture to a boil; lower to a simmer, and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove soup from heat.  Remove the chipotle pepper from the soup and discard. Using an immersion blender, (or pour into the heat-proof bowl of a regular blender) puree the soup until it has just a few chunks left.  Add the salt and pepper; taste; add more salt and pepper if needed.

Divide soup into bowls and top with chunks of fresh avocado.  Serve with freshly toasted bread.

Serves 2 for a main course and 4 as a side dish.

Roasted Eggplant filled with a Savory Vegetable Medley

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Eggplant is back on my table and making me happier than ever.

I talked about the many virtues of this glorious purple vegetable before, so I won’t go into them again but you can read all about it here.  Suffice it propose that this is something we should all be cooking and eating more often.

What I will say is that if you are looking for a meal that will have you leaning back in your chair after each bite in sheer delight, then you need to turn on your ovens, roll up your sleeves, and get working on this.  I made this for two of us (though we ended up having a little left over, which was absolutely brilliant reheated for lunch the next day), but you can easily increase the quantities with minimal extra work if you want to serve a crowd.  This makes an excellent main course, a beautiful side dish, or, if you cut each eggplant into smaller pieces, would be the perfect addition to a buffet table.

The savory, salty flavors of the feta and sundried tomato are absolutely perfect against the mild flavors of the eggplant, broccoli and chickpeas, and the cilantro and parsley add a bright note that balances out the entire dish.  So good.  So, so good.  Not only that, it’s vegetarian, super healthy, and loaded with nutrients for tip-top health. What can I say?  Please get cooking!

Roasted Eggplant filled with a Savory Vegetable Medley

Begin by roasting the eggplant:
2 small eggplants (aubergines) sliced in half length-wise through the stem
sea salt
olive oil

Preheat your oven to 175°C/350°F

Lay the eggplants cut side up on a parchment-lined baking pan. Cut a cross-hatch in each eggplant, sprinkle with sea salt, and drizzle generously with olive oil.  Bake for one hour or until golden brown and soft.

While the eggplants bake, prepare the filling:
1 yellow onion, diced
1 cup cooked chickpeas, drained
2 cups raw broccoli, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup diced sundried tomatoes
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped, included stems and leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Warm oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan over medium heat.  Add onion and fry until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add chickpeas, garlic, broccoli, sundried tomatoes, salt and pepper. Add a splash of water, stir, cover, and cook for 2-3 minutes until broccoli is bright green but still slightly crisp.  Remove from heat and stir in feta and herbs.

Stuff the eggplants:
When the eggplants are ready, remove from oven. Spoon the vegetable filling evenly over the top of the eggplants and use the back of a spoon to press the filling down into the eggplant. Return the stuffed eggplant to the oven and back for an additional 10 minutes.

Serve hot with 1/2 cup of greek yogurt mixed with 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice.

Serves 2 as a main course or 4+ as a side dish.

Love eggplant? Try these recipes:
Baked Eggplant with Tomato, Red Lentil and Herb Sauce
Grilled Zucchini and Eggplant with Lemon Mint Yogurt Dip

Like this recipe?  Please let me know in the comments below and share with your friends!

Savory Quinoa Patties

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Savory Quinoa Patties

I promised a recipe for those Quinoa Patties I mentioned in my Chickpea, Lemon & Ginger Dip post, and a recipe you shall have.

I couldn’t get the idea for quinoa patties out of my head for days.  I saw a recipe in Ottolenghi’s Plenty More.  The Iron You had a recipe posted.  Heidi posted one at 101 Cookbooks (which was an inspiration for the first two, and I was inspired by all of them, so we should all thank Heidi, really!).

Quinoa is a super grain – high in protein, essential amino acids, phytonutrients, and an excellent source of manganese, phosphorus, copper, mangnesium, fiber, folate and zinc.  This is one to get into your diet for sure.

Before you begin mixing and stirring I want to let you know that this recipe makes a big, ol’ pile of quinoa patties.  You’ll have a LOT of these savory little morsels.  Which isn’t really a problem, because you may find your hand drifting toward the platter of them just when you thought you were done.  Or you can invite a crowd over and make everyone happy.

They make great leftovers too, so you can either freeze them for way later, or package them up for lunch the next day with a little yogurt and lemon zest; a little left over dip if there is any; a few oven-roasted tomatoes, or on the top of dressed salad greens.  In fact, that’s what I’m going to do for lunch today as I had a few hanging out in the freezer.

But back to the recipe…

You can make the batter for these the night before and fry them up the next day/evening if you wish. You don’t have to let them sit, but the flavors do develop nicely with an hour or so of rest time in the fridge.  If you want them right away, don’t worry:  measure, mix, stir, fry, consume immediately and it’s all good.

A few notes:

  • If you want to make these gluten-free, use a gluten-free flour – that’s what I did and it worked perfectly.  You can also use all-purpose flour.
  • Since both the soy sauce and fish sauce have salt, you won’t need to add any extra salt
  • Add the flour last.  Depending on how wet your quinoa is once you’ve drained it, you may need slightly less.

My oh my – these are GOOD! You won’t be sad you made the effort.

Savory Quinoa Patties with Chickpea, Lemon & Ginger Dip and Cilantro-Parsley-Avocado Dip

Savory Quinoa Patties 

First, cook your quinoa
3 cups water
1 cup raw quinoa
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in a small pot; bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer; cover; cook 10 minutes or until tender.  Drain through a fine-mesh colander/sieve and rinse with cold water to cool it down. Shake the colander a bit to remove as much excess water as possible.  Proceed with recipe.

Prepare the quinoa patty mixture
Cooked quinoa from above (should measure roughly 2 cups)
1 cup oatmeal flakes
1 onion, minced
1/4 cup minced parsley
1/4 cup minced cilantro
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon Tamari or other soy sacue
1 teaspoon Fish sauce
zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon minced, hot chili pepper
1/4 cup flour, gluten-free or all-purpose
4 eggs, lightly beaten

Combine all ingredients into a large mixing bowl.  Mix really well to blend all flavors completely. For ideal results, allow the mixture to rest for 20 minutes before frying, or you can make the recipe a day ahead and refrigerate.

To fry
Heat a non-stick pan or a seasoned cast-iron pan over medium-high heat.  Add 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil, sesame or coconut oil to the pan, and rotate the pan so the bottom is evenly coated.   Scoop 2 tablespoon-sized rounds of the quinoa mixture into the pan and press them down lightly with the back of a spatula.  Fry until the bottom is golden brown; flip the patties, and fry until both sides are golden brown.

Makes about 50 patties

Serve with 1 cup lemon + 2 teaspoons lemon juice for a quick sauce or make the Chickpea, Lemon & Ginger Dip for a real treat.